Ri Ra raile baile

I probably spelled that completely incorrectly - Mandy you were right I should have written it down.

Wednesday evening - it had already been a really long day/week at work and I felt a Wednesday night martini would be just the thing to make the world right again. So I called Mandy who nobly said she was going to go to yoga, and then moments later declared drinking would be a lot more fun. We were both a little wishy washy over the whole thing - here I'd just gotten this great haircut, but didn't really know what I wanted to wear or where I wanted to go. Mandy said - do you mind if we go somewhere I can get a beer instead?

WHAT? Just when you think you know someone, but that makes her more adorable to the gentlemen, so go get 'em sister. In the words of a coworker - "you're like the perfect woman except you don't drink beer." Sorry folks, I'll never really understand.

So I decide it really isn't that critical to the blog if she gets a beer so long as one of us gets a martini - I'll volunteer. We decide on Ri Ra, a local Irish pub, and I go to pick Mandy up. As she gets in the car I realize we have settled on the same outfit - black turtleneck, dark jeans, black heels...sigh - there are some good things about being friends with someone so long, but it is always comical when we unintentionally dress the same. At least she had a colorful scarf!

Once at Ri Ra we are sitting commiserating about the world as we tend to do from time to time, and low and behold some guy comes over to bum a cigarette. Now mostly I am a nazi with my smokes and don't really let strangers have any, but I was feeling defeated so I gave him one. And wouldn't you know, this guy restored my faith in men (well, 2/3 of them at least). He said thank you, didn't try to sit down and get all in our conversation, and then he bought us each a drink! Very classy. Maybe I should give away cigarettes more often...Peter, did I mention he was Canadian?

The conversation kept drifting back to Ireland and how we should go there for a vacation, so I finally called Robert and he joined us for a little while. Now I have actually had a drink in an Irish bar with an Irishman. In America. Martinis get a 7.